Outdoor unit of air-conditioning apparatus

ABSTRACT

A bottom plate  1  has a projecting portion  1   a  that upwardly projects at a portion thereof to which a heater support  5  is attached, and a leg  3  is disposed at a portion that at least includes a position below a screw hole  1   b  formed in the projecting portion  1   a.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an outdoor unit of an air-conditioningapparatus, and particularly relates to protection of a tip end portionof a screw used to secure an anti-freeze heater.

BACKGROUND ART

In some conventional outdoor units of air-conditioning apparatuses, ananti-freeze heater is pressed against an upper surface of a bottom platewith a heater support and secured with a screw (see Patent Literature1).

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent No. 3882910 (see, for example,paragraphs [0014] and [0016], and FIGS. 1 to 3)

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

In the above-described type of the conventional outdoor unit of theair-conditioning apparatus, a heater support, which is used to press apipe portion of the anti-freeze heater against the upper surface of thebottom plate and secure the anti-freeze heater with the screw, has astructure in which a tip end portion of the screw is exposed to a lowersurface of the bottom plate on the ground side. This may cause a safetyproblem in installation of the outdoor unit. Thus, a screw cover iswelded to the lower surface of the bottom plate so as to cover the tipend portion of the screw, thereby ensuring the safety during theinstallation of the air-conditioning apparatus.

However, there is a problem with this method in that the number ofcomponents is increased due to use of the screw cover. There also is aproblem with this method in that the design of the appearance isdegraded by a projection, which includes the screw cover, projectingfrom the lower surface of the bottom plate, projecting only at a portionwhere the anti-freeze heater is secured with the screw.

The present invention is proposed to overcome the above-describedproblems. An object of the present invention is to provide an outdoorunit of an air-conditioning apparatus, with which the safety duringinstallation is ensured without increasing the number of components andthe design of the appearance of the outdoor unit is not degraded.

Solution to Problem

An outdoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus according to thepresent invention includes a bottom plate, on, an upper surface of whicha heat exchanger and an anti-freeze heater are disposed, a heatersupport that presses the anti-freeze heater against the upper surface ofthe bottom plate and is secured to the bottom plate with a screw, and aleg disposed on a lower surface of the bottom plate. In the outdoorunit, the bottom plate has a projecting portion that upwardly projectsat a portion to which the heater support is attached, and the leg isdisposed at a portion that at least includes a position below a screwhole formed in the projecting portion.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

With the outdoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus according to thepresent invention, the safety during the installation is ensured withoutincreasing the number of components and the design of the appearance ofthe outdoor unit is not degraded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the interior of an outdoorunit of an air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a bottom plate and a regionaround the bottom plate of the outdoor unit of the air-conditioningapparatus according to Embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the bottom plate and a region around thebottom plate taken along line X-X in FIG. 2 seen in the arrow direction.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the bottom plate and a region around thebottom plate taken along line Y-Y in FIG. 2 seen in the arrow direction.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

Embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to the drawings.

Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the interior of an outdoorunit of an air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment.

The exterior of the outdoor unit is defined by a front surface panel(not shown) that covers the front, a rear surface panel (not shown) thatcovers the back, a top plate (not shown) that covers the top, sideplates (not shown) that cover the sides, and a bottom plate 1 thatdefines a bottom portion. Legs 3 are provided on the lower surface ofthe bottom plate 1. The outdoor unit is supported by the legs 3.

The interior of the outdoor unit is separated into an air-sending devicechamber 13 and a machine chamber 14 by a separator 11, which is a sheetmetal part. The air-sending device chamber 13 and the machine chamber 14are respectively defined on the left and right in the outdoor unit infront view.

A heat exchanger 9, a motor support 8, and a propeller fan 10 are housedin the air-sending device chamber 13. The side surface and the entirerear surface of the heat exchanger 9 are disposed on the upper surfaceof the bottom plate 1. The motor support 8 extends from lower to upperportions of the heat exchanger 9. The propeller fan 10 is attached to amotor (not shown), which is attached to the motor support 8. Apipe-shaped anti-freeze heater 2 having a pipe portion 2 a is alsohoused in the air-sending device chamber 13. Part of the pipe portion 2a is pressed against the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 with aheater support 5 and secured with a screw 4.

A lower portion of the motor support 8 can be secured to a rise portionof the bottom plate 1 with the screw 4, and an upper portion of themotor support 8 having a hook shape can be retained at the heatexchanger 9.

When the propeller fan 10 is operated, air is introduced into the insideof the outdoor unit through, for example, air inlets (not shown)provided in the side plates and the rear surface panel of the outdoorunit. The air having been introduced is exhausted toward the front sideof the outdoor unit through an air outlet (not shown) provided in thefront surface by the propeller fan 10. In so doing, a refrigerant in theheat exchanger 9 is cooled by the air having been introduced during, forexample, cooling operation. The air having passed through the heatexchanger 9 is heated by exchanging heat with the refrigerant. Thebottom plate 1 has a drain path formed therein near the heat exchanger9, and the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater 2 is disposedalong the drain path so as to prevent water from freezing in the drainpath.

A compressor 7 and an electrical unit 12 are housed in the machinechamber 14. The compressor 7 is disposed on the upper surface of thebottom plate 1. The electrical unit 12 is disposed at an upper portionof the separator 11 so as to be parallel to the bottom plate 1.

During, for example, cooling operation, the refrigerant delivered froman indoor unit (not shown) is compressed by the compressor 7 anddelivered to the heat exchanger 9 through a refrigerant pipe. Theelectrical unit 12 supplies power to various components.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the bottom plate and a regionaround the bottom plate of the outdoor unit of the air-conditioningapparatus according to Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of thebottom plate and a region around the bottom plate taken along line X-Xin FIG. 2 seen in the arrow direction. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of thebottom plate and the region around the bottom plate taken along line Y-Yin FIG. 2 seen in the arrow direction.

The bottom plate 1 has projections and recesses, which are shapes formedby drawing, so as to provide strength to the bottom plate 1. A circulardrain hole 1 c, through which water is discharged, is formed in asubstantially central portion of the bottom plate 1. Drain waterproduced in the outdoor unit flows through the drain path formed in thebottom plate 1 and is discharged to the outside of the outdoor unitthrough this drain hole 1 c.

The anti-freeze heater 2 is disposed on the upper surface of the bottomplate 1, and the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater 2 isdisposed so as to conform to the shape formed in the bottom plate 1 bydrawing. Part of the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater 2 ispressed against the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 with the heatersupport 5 and secured with a screw 4.

The bottom plate 1 has a projecting portion 1 a that upwardly projectsat a portion thereof to which the heater support 5 is attached. Theprojecting portion 1 a has a screw hole 1 b having an increasedthickness through a burring process.

The heater support 5 has an arch portion 5 a at its part. The archportion 5 a has a substantially arch shape that conforms to thesectional shape of the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater 2 soas to press the part of the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater2. Other part of the heater support 5 has a shape that conforms to thepart of the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 where the heater support5 is disposed. The heater support 5 has a screw hole 5 b at a positionsuperposed with the screw hole 1 b.

On the lower surface of the bottom plate 1, for example, two legs 3 areprovided so as to be parallel to the lower surface. One of the legs 3 isdisposed in a portion that at least includes a position below the screwhole 1 b. That is, the screw hole 1 b is positioned above one of thelegs 3. Thus, there is a space 6 formed between the screw hole 1 b andone of the legs 3.

The projecting portion 1 a projects upward so that, when the screw 4 isscrewed into the screw hole 1 b such that a tip end portion 4 a of thescrew 4 is oriented to the lower surface of the bottom plate 1, the tipend portion 4 a of the screw 4 is not brought into contact with the leg3 positioned below the screw hole 1 b. That is, the length by which theprojecting portion 1 a projects is longer than the length of the screw 4in the design. The reason for this is to avoid the following situation:in the case where the tip end portion 4 a of the screw 4 is in contactwith the leg 3, and accordingly, the screw 4 is not entirely tightenedin engagement with the thread of the screw hole 1 b, the securement ofthe anti-freeze heater 2 to the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 isloosened, and work efficiency is degraded.

The anti-freeze heater 2 is secured to the upper surface of the bottomplate 1 by disposing the heater support 5 such that the arch portion 5 acovers the part of the pipe portion 2 a of the anti-freeze heater 2disposed near the screw hole 1 b and such that the screw hole 1 b andthe screw hole 5 b are superposed with each other, and by screwing thescrew 4 into the screw hole 1 b through the screw hole 5 b.

In this state, the screw 4 is contained within the space 6 formedbetween the leg 3 and the screw hole 1 b, which is formed in theprojecting portion 1 a of the bottom plate 1.

Thus, the leg 3 serves as a screw cover. This allows ensuring the safetyduring the installation of the outdoor unit without increasing thenumber of components. Furthermore, since the screw 4 is not visible fromthe outside of the outdoor unit and there is no projection on the lowersurface of the bottom plate 1, the design of the appearance is notdegraded.

Although two legs 3 are provided in Embodiment, the number of legs 3 maybe changed as long as the outdoor unit can be supported. However, atleast one of the legs 3 needs to be provided at a portion that at leastincludes the position below the screw hole 1 b.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

1 bottom plate, 1 a projecting portion, 1 b screw hole, 1 c drain hole,2 anti-freeze heater, 2 a pipe portion, 3 leg, 4 screw, 4 a tip endportion, 5 heater support, 5 a arch portion, 5 b screw hole, 6 space, 7compressor, 8 motor support, 9 heat exchanger, 10 propeller fan, 11separator, 12 electrical unit, 13 air-sending device chamber, and 14machine chamber.

1. An outdoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus, the outdoor unitcomprising: a bottom plate; a heat exchanger and an anti-freeze heaterthat are disposed on an upper surface of the bottom plate; a heatersupport that presses the anti-freeze heater against the upper surface ofthe bottom plate and is secured to the bottom plate with a screw; and aleg disposed on a lower surface of the bottom plate, wherein the bottomplate has a projecting portion that upwardly projects at a portion towhich the heater support is attached, and wherein the leg is disposed ata portion that at least includes a position below a screw hole formed inthe projecting portion.
 2. The outdoor unit of the air-conditioningapparatus of claim 1, wherein the projecting portion projects upward sothat a tip end portion of the screw is not brought into contact with theleg positioned below the screw hole when the screw is screwed into thescrew hole with the tip end portion being oriented to a lower surface ofthe bottom plate.